Microsoft gives us a closer look at Windows 10’s search feature

Windows 10 has many innovative features such as Cortana and Windows Hello which are more attractive than the key pieces of the Windows operating system such as the Windows Indexer. All versions of Windows comes with a search indexer that works just like Bing. The Indexer in Windows 10 is the machine behind the organized File Explorer and Cortana (search bar).

Windows Indexer works tirelessly to find your files, regardless of their location in the system. Documents or pictures into folders and then folders into others folders or a compressed zip file can be searched in a couple of seconds.

“The Windows Indexer organizes your files so that you can locate a document, photo or other file almost instantly through Windows Search. When it comes to search, speed is crucial — usability studies show that anything slower than 50 milliseconds results in a bad search experience,” Microsoft explains.

Microsoft in a blog post detailed the new changes introduced in Windows 10 for the Search feature, either the Cortana or the search bar in the taskbar. The new Indexer in Windows 10 focuses on what can be searched on your PC and how results are displayed.

Bing images and videos integrated into Windows 10 search

Image Courtesy: Microsoft.com

Windows 10’s Search feature syncs with Bing search engine to show the relevant results such as web pages. With the Creators Update, Microsoft shows the images and videos relevant to your search, and images are outsourced from Bing, the company’s search engine. Microsoft says it is a richer search experience as you don’t have to open your browser.

Emails and Contacts can now be searched

Image Courtesy: Microsoft.com

Microsoft has also added the ability to find emails and contacts (people) using Windows Search, as it used to work earlier. Windows 10 Search will use your Microsoft account to sync the contacts and as well as the emails through Outlook, along with the third-party services such as a Gmail.

You can now search for local executables (files) such as bat, msi etc

Windows 10’s Search can now be used to search the local executable files such as msi, bat, and cmd, however, it won’t work if it’s not in reach of the indexer. as Microsoft cares about the system performance, the Search has many limitations, the reachability is one of them.

Search is not limited to the personal Use Profile directory anymore

A number of users complained to Microsoft that they cannot search outside certain folders on their PC, ultimately limiting the reach of the Search. Microsoft has already fixed this issue, and the Search is no longer limited to the User Profile directory.

You can also expand the reach of the folders that can be indexed, but it’s worth noting that this will impact the performance of your system and as well as the battery life, so it’s always better to stick to the default settings in such cases. Last but not the least, you can now also search for Recycle Bin, and it works even when you are hiding it on the desktop.